


carefully

by starblessed



Category: The Greatest Showman (2017), The Greatest Showman (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Female Friendship, Gen, Girl Power, talking about boyfriends while doing each other's makeup
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2018-01-04
Packaged: 2019-02-28 08:14:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13267368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starblessed/pseuds/starblessed
Summary: Lettie helps Anne figure out makeup, Phillip, and a few other things along the way.





	carefully

Very few things about Lettie are small. Not her beard; not her voice; not even the large as life personality she’s grown into. However, Anne muses, she does have remarkably small hands.

Lettie’s grip is steady on the powder brush. She does not quake or falter as she dusts the bristles across Anne’s high cheekbone.

“There you go,” she hums, smiling. “You’re going to look beautiful.”

“So will you,” Anne replies, swirling her own brush in a tin of dark makeup. She’s a little unsure of herself (this brand isn’t the kind she usually works with) but she figures painting someone else’s face can be no different than decorating her own.

No one has ever done Anne’s makeup for her before. In the time before joining the show, it was always her alone with a brush and whatever cosmetics she could afford. Now she transforms herself each night with bright colors and sparkling powder. She becomes an incandescent being, soaring through the air like an angel. Everything about her during the show — from her fluid grace, revealing costumes, bright hair, and dramatic makeup — is designed to make her look more than human. 

She’s gotten very good with makeup like that. When it comes to something like this, though — so subtle, so ordinary — she’s not sure she’s quite got the hang of it.

She traces the fine-tipped brush over Lettie’s eyelid, leaving a dark trail in her wake. “Please tell me if I’m doing anything wrong.”

“You’re doing fine,” Lettie says. She’s got beautiful eyes — brown and warm, like a doe’s, but with a hidden fire burning far within their depths. Anne likes Lettie’s eyes, and wants to make them look as nice as possible.

“Besides,” Lettie says as she carefully applies more rouge to Anne’s cheeks, “you’ve gotta look nice tonight. If Carlyle is taking you out, you better look prettier than him.”

Anne feels a laugh bubble up from her chest. A year ago, it would have taken her aback (she laughed so rarely before the circus, and never like she meant it). Now she chuckles more and more, and finds herself getting used to the sound. “That’ll be a challenge.”

“Only if you’re up for it.” Lettie looks focused as she turns her attention to Anne’s lips. As Lettie dips into another pot of makeup, Anne leans back and studied her creation. She’s done all she can for her friend’s eyes, accentuating them in black and gold. Maybe her cheeks… 

(Then her gaze is drawn to Lettie’s facial hair, and she hastily discards that idea. She might no longer be ashamed of it, but Lettie will let no one touch her beard but her. Anne respects those sorts of boundaries, and isn’t about to cross them.)

Lips, she decides. Something with Lettie’s lips.

They work in sync. Lettie selects a rich raspberry color for Anne’s mouth. A part of Anne thinks it will be too bright, will clash against the golden tone of her skin, but she hesitates to say so. This is all Lettie’s makeup, after all. She knows more about them than Anne does. (Not to mention one look at Lettie’s own darker-toned skin reminds her that she’s in good hands.)

For Lettie’s own face, Anne selects a neutral color. It won’t stand out much, but maybe that’s the idea. If all the attention is being drawn to Lettie’s eyes, the lower half of her face might not even matter. She mixes it carefully, focused on the task at hand; she doesn’t even realize she’s humming until Lettie lets out a tiny chuckle.

“I heard that song from him this morning too,” she says. The wryness in her voice makes Anne feel like she’s been uncovered, though there was no secret about her and Phillip at all. She ducks her head, blushing. “The two of you are on the same page.”

This takes Anne by surprise. “You really think so?” she asks, crooking an eyebrow. “Sometimes I wonder.”

She wants to understand Phillip, of course. She wants them to be in sync, to work well together as much as they love each other. There are times when they seem like they’re in perfect harmony. Then, other times…

Anne feels as though she is miles apart from Phillip’s world, and Phillip himself.

“You can’t expect everything you want from a person all the time.” Lettie smiles, shaking her head. “The two of you love each other. You agree on that much, at least. The rest will… line up in time. Until it does, learning to understand each other’s just part of the ride.”

Anne nods down at the pot of makeup, frowning. That makes perfect sense. She hesitates, a little unsure, before asking, “Do you think it’ll take long?”

“Depends on how much the two of you want it,” Lettie replies. She lifts Anne’s chin gently, studying her face. Her lips purse. “Almost there. Just a little more for the eyes…”

Anne closes her eyes obligingly as Lettie operates on her eyelids. She imagines Phillip’s face, the warm affection in his eyes whenever he thinks she isn’t watching him. Then, Lettie’s own melancholy smile drifts back into her mind.

“You speak as if from experience.” 

This might be a sensitive topic; Anne doesn’t know. As a rule, the freaks do not discuss their lives before the circus with each other, save for a few offhanded comments. She understands why — the past is a painful, unforgiving thing, capable of stinging even when it’s years behind you. Anne doesn’t like revisiting her own history, but she sometimes can’t help wondering about others. Of everyone in their makeshift “family”, Anne might be the closest with Lettie, but even she doesn’t know much about her past. She was a laundress, and loved to sing. That’s it.

Lettie hums, and for a few seconds doesn’t answer. Anne wonders if she’s stepped into a minefield. Then Lettie replies, voice soft and thoughtful, but free of bitterness. “I was in love once. Funny thing is, he actually loved me back.”

“That’s wonderful. How old were you?”

“A little younger than you — not much out of my teens, I think. It seems like so long ago now. He was… a different sort of man.”

“Different… like us?” Anne asks, tentative. 

“Different because he had his own mind, and kept it open. He didn’t judge people. He looked at me and… could see what no one else could.” There is a warmth in Lettie’s voice, affectionate and soft, reflecting on a distant memory. “He made me feel like I didn’t have to be the person everyone decided I was. Like I didn’t have to be alone.”

Anne breathes out in a long sigh. Not too long ago, she was convinced she’d be alone too — and that she was better off that way. She wasn’t looking for someone to change that, but Phillip came along and made her question what she thought she was content with. The truth in Lettie’s words ring within her.

When her friend’s eyes turn sad, Anne tilts her head. “What happened?” she asks, although she isn’t sure she wants to know.

“His parents didn’t like it,” Lettie answers with a rueful smile. “They wanted him to marry a ‘normal girl’ — and he was strong, but not enough to resist them. He said goodbye to me.”

Anne’s heart breaks, not for herself, but for Lettie. Her friend deserved so much better than that. “I’m sorry.”

Lettie looks back up at her. Anne sees her push her pain back down, shove it back in its old box and lock it up again, covering it and shoving it away. It takes a few seconds for her to smile again, but when she does, it’s genuine. “It didn’t kill me,” she answers. “All it took was me figuring that stuff out again, by my own self. That’s what I needed. Not him. _Me.”_

When she cups Anne’s face in her hands, Anne feels inexplicably emotional. Something about the honesty in Lettie’s story, the parallels between her old lover and Phillip, take her aback. She feels a little overwhelmed, a little grateful, and a little like she’s staring into the sun.

“Don’t forget that, honey. No matter how good anyone makes you feel, your strength is inside of _you_ all the time. No one can give it to you, and no one can take it away. You’ve got to hold on to it.”

Anne swallows, and takes a deep breath. “I will.”

Lettie grins. Her hands fall away, palms brushing against the knees of her dress. “For what it’s worth, you can’t get much better than Carlyle. He’s a good guy. They’re rare, but they’re out there, and it seems like you found a man who fits you like a puzzle piece.” She winks, making Anne giggle. “Hold on to him too.”

When Lettie starts putting the makeup away, Anne makes a noise of protest. “Wait, I’m not done!” she exclaims, and pulls the brush from her makeup pot. As Lettie faces her, she spreads a careful smear of pink across her friend’s lips. Lettie puckers them before smiling, like Anne has given her a gift she really wanted.

“Thank you,” Anne says, and really means it. “And for what it’s worth… there are more good men out there than you think. With open minds and open hearts.” Anne found one. Anything can be possible, especially for a person as beautiful as Lettie.

Lettie grins, shaking her head, and gives Anne’s hand a final squeeze. “Go on,” she bids, “you’ve got somewhere to be!”

Anne rushes off to meet Phillip, Lettie’s words still bouncing in her head. It really is nice, she decides, to have a friend to confide in every once in a while.

**Author's Note:**

> this was really cute and fun to write, because i love lettie a lot.
> 
> the woman lettie is loosely based off of, annie jones (barnum's real-life bearded woman) actually had a childhood romance with a man she later married. she didn't get her happy ending either, but, well...
> 
> more TGS fics coming up soon! :)


End file.
